Shakespeare at IATEFL

If you look at the programme at the 50th IATEFL conference this year in Birmingham you may be excused to think it could well be called the IATEFL Shakespeare Conference instead. There was a lot of Shakespeare going on and I am proud to say that the Literature, Media and Cultural Studies SIG has contributed quite a lot to it.

We started on Monday with a tour in Stratford-upon-Avon with a VIP visit to the Birthplace, a lecture on the recent archaeological discovers at New Place, followed by a visit to Harvard House and Hall’s Croft, culminating with the evening performance of Marlowe’s Faustus at the RSC – no Shakespeare play on Monday, I am afraid.

The Pre-Conference event on Tuesday counted on presenters coming from a variety of backgrounds and their presentations were meant to appeal to participants working in a multiplicity of ways as they covered discussions on Shakespeare’s language, the analysis of particular aspects of his work, and practical activities to bring Shakespeare to students in your everyday teaching practice. The PCE would not be possible without the generosity of our SIG friends who agreed to take part in the day. Thanks to Jeremy Harmer for accepting to open the event and to all the presenters for sharing their expertise, knowledge and experience with us. My heartfelt thanks to Professor David Crystal, the IATEFL Patron, who has so graciously agreed to share his vast knowledge of Shakespeare with us. Thanks to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the British Council for their fantastic support and for sending their speakers, Lisa Peter and Martin Peacock, respectively. To know more about the PCE presentations, check the event programme here.

There was also Luke Prodromou presentation of Shakespeare’s female characters on the LMCS SIG day and I contributed with my tuppence with a presentation on Shakespeare in EAP, sponsored by Macmillan. Not to mention the British Council Signature Event on Shakespeare (click here to watch) and the marvelous evening events: first with Jeremy Harmer, Amos Paran, Marjorie Rosenberg and Glyn Jones singing Shakespeare’s songs, followed by David and Hilary Crystal double act presenting ‘an entertaining potpourri of new and old pieces on Shakespeare, including some unbelievable recent discoveries about the bard’, and closing with David Gibson and Luke Prodromou performance of ‘an original comedy inspired by a dozen works of the greatest writer in the English language’.